Decorative product and method of producing the same



y 1, 1945. J. w. KEMMLER ETAL 2,374,940

DECORATIVE PRODUCT AND METHOD OF PRODUCING THE SAME Filed Dec. 4, 1941INVENTORS JA MES 14/. KEMMLER BY EDWARD R. ERB, JR.

W awe/ A TTORNE) Patented May 1, 1945 DECORATIVE PRODUCT AND METHOD OFPRODUCING THE SAME James w. Kemmler, Elklns Park, and Edward R.

Erb, Jr., Morrisville, Pa assignorl to Sloane- Blabon, Trenton, N. J., acorporation of New Jersey Application December 4, 1941, Serial No.421,699

6 Claims.

This invention relates to decorated products such as floor coverings andthe like, and particularly to products having a sheet ofsemi-transparent wear resisting material possessing design modifyingfeatures and secured to a backing embodying other features of thedesign.

Floor coverings as heretofore produced have been provided with designsformed of pigments or other colored materials suitably arranged on thewearing surface of the product. The design therefore lies entirely in asingle plane and re-' ceives all of the wear of tramc over the surfaceof the material.

In accordance with the present invention products having designs of anovel character are produced and all or most of the'design formingmaterial is protected from wear. This is accomplished by providingdecorated floor coverings with a wear receiving surface formed of asemi-transparent sheet of resinous material which contains or embodiespigments, dyes, fillers or coloring agents for modifying orcomplementing the design carried by the decorated floor covering.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide novel types offloor coverings and the like having a characteristic design orappearance.

Another object of our invention is to provide decorative products withdesigns located in parallel planes within the product.

A further object of our invention is to provide floor coverings and thelike with semi-transparent wear resisting surface layer embodying meansfor modifying the appearanc and design of the finished product.

These and other objects and features of the present invention willappear from the following description thereof in which reference is madeto the single figure of the drawing which is a perspective of a portionof a typical product embodying our invention. In producing productsembodying the present invention it is preferred to employ sheetedpolyvinyl chloride for the wear resisting layer of the material butnumerous other flexible resinous materials may be used and among thematerials suggested are cellulose acetate, ethyl cellulose, co-polymersof vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate (vinylite) polystyrene and the like.

which are transparent and other areas which are opaque or translucent,or to produce a tinted semi-transparent sheet. Such sheets are securedto any preferred type of backing. material, such as felt saturated witha bituminous material and provided with a decorative coat of paint, orhaving the surface thereof provided with a decorative layer of linoleumcomposition. However, the resinous sheets may be applied to any othersuitable type of decorated backing to produce products embodying thepresent invention.

In that form of the invention illustrated in the drawing the product isprovided with a, layer of backing material I which may be asphaltsaturated felt, burlap, linoleum, paper or the like. Decorative material4, such as paint or a linoleum composition, is applied to the uppersurface of the backing and arranged in a suitable 90 design such as atile effect.

A semi-transparent sheet of material 6, which preferably is formed of orcontains polyvinyl chloride, is secured to the backing over thedecorative material 4. The resinous wear resisting sheet contains afiller, pigment, dye or coloring agent which may be incorporated in thesheet in any suitable manner so that the sheet 6 will possess modifyingor complimenting design features. In the construction illustrated thepigment is arranged so as to provide opaque areas 8 and transparentareas 10 and the pigment is so distributed as to have a marbelized,streaked, smoky orvgrained appearance. The decorative material 4 carriedby the backing is visible through the transparent areas Ill and theshaded or translucent areas at the margins of the opaque areas 8. Inthis way the design carried by the backing material is modified inappearance. Moreover, the opaque or pigmented areas 8 of the sheet 6extend throughout the sheet and therefore lie in planes below thewearing surface of the product and parallel to the surface of thedecorative material 4 carried by the backing. 7

Instead of distributing the pigment irregularly throughout the sheet 8so as to have a marbelized These materials are readily formed intotransments are distributed so as to produce areas effect it may bepresent in or on the sheet in streaks, to give iasp characteristics tothe design. When desired the pigmented areas of the sheet 8 may beconfined to predetermined areas and arranged in particular forms ordesigns to complement or supplement the design of the decorativematerial 4 carried by the backing.

The exposed surface'of the resinous sheet issmoothandmaybewaxedorpolishedsoasto be readily cleaned and yet thedecorative material making up the design lies in different planesparallel to the surface of the finished product. The attractiveness ofembossed designs are thus obtained without irregularities in the surfaceof the product. Moreover, the vertically displaced relation of thedesign and design modifying pigment give the impression of depth in theproduct and render it possible to obtain novel shadow eilects, shading,blending and plaid designs which are not obtainable in products whereinthe desi n is located entirely in a single plane of the product.

These new and characteristic features of products embodying ourinvention not only serve to and until the wear resisting sheet has beenworn through.

The pigment, filler or coloring agent incorporated in thesemi-transparent sheet 6 may be introduced into the sheet by anysuitable means as by applying pigment or filler material to thecomposition from which the sheet 6 is formed and calendering the sheetso as to spread or distribute the pigment or filler and embody itpermanently in the composition. When the wear resisting sheet is to havea uniform color throughout a dye or small amounts of pigment may beadded to the composition from which the sheet 6 is produced and may bemixed or blended therewith prior to the formation of the sheet.

The sheet 6 may be secured to the backing i and over the decorativematerial 4 by any suitable means or method. When the resinous sheet isformed of or contains polyvinyl chloride it may be secured to adecorated backing by means of transparent adhesives containing amethacrylate resin activated by subjecting the product to heat andpressure.

From the foregoing description of the invention it will be apparent thatvery characteristic designs and effects may be produced in a greatnumber of different types of floor covering materials and in otherdecorative products. In view thereof it should be understood that theembodiments of our invention illustrated in the drawing and hereindescribed are intended to be illustrative of the invention and are notintended to limit the scope thereof.

We claim:

1. Floor covering or the like comprising a backing having decorativematerial applied thereto forming a definite design, and asemi-transparent sheet of irregularly pigmented resinous materialsecured to and covering the decorative material cnthebacking,thedesignotthebackingandthe pigmentation of the semi-transparent sheetcombining to produce a composite design.

2. Floor covering or the like comprising a backing material havingdecorative material applied thereto forming a definite design and havinga wear receiving surface layer of'material in the form of a sheet whichis transparent in certain areas thereof and opaque or translucent inother areas thereof, said sheet of material being secured to thedecorated surface of the backing material, to form a compositedecorative surface embodying the motif of the design of the backing ma.-terial modified by the opaque or transparent portions of the wearreceiving surface.

3. Floor. covering or the like comprising backing material havingdecorative material applied to certain areas thereof to constitute onefeature of a'design, and a semi-transparent sheet of wear resistingmaterial extending over said decorative material and having pigmentembodied in predetermined areas thereof to constitute complementaryfeatures of the design.

4. Floor covering or the like comprising felt base material havingdecorative material applied thereto in the form of a design, and apigmented transparent sheet of flexible resinous material secured to thefelt base material over the decorative material whereby the appearanceof said designismodified.

5. A product adapted for use as a floor covering and comprising abacking having decorative material on one surface thereof, and aprotective film secured thereto having pigmented and transparent areasincorporated therein and combining with the decorative material of thebacking to produce a composite design which is a combination of designfeatures of both said decorative material and the pigmented areas of theprotective film.

6. A product adapted for use as a floor covering and comprising abacking having decorative material on one surface thereby embodyingadjacent differently colored areas, and a protective film securedthereto and having irregular distributed pigmented and transparent areasincorporated therein and extending across edges of said adjacentdifferently colored areas of the decorative material to produce acomposite design which embodies design features of both said decorativematerial and the pigmented areas of said protective film.

I JAMES W. KEMMLER. EDWARD R. ERB, JR.

